And Do They Do was commissioned by Siobhan Davies and the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. It was composed during the summer of 1986 and first performed at Sadler’s Wells Theatre on 25th November in that year. It consists of four linked ‘songs’ of which the third is based on Schumann’s Nachtlied Opus. 96, No.1, a song which did not find a place in my opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, written at the same time and in which Schumann’s music plays a major structural role.

And Do They Do consists of four linked “songs” of which the third is based on Schumann’s Nachtlied Op. 96, No. 1, a song which did not a find a place in my opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, written at the same time and in which Schumann’s music plays a major structural role.’